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Contractors continued pouring concrete on massive data centers and power plants in April. This time, however, a swath of other kinds of projects also turned dirt.

Total starts jumped 9% month over month in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.33 trillion, according to Dodge Construction Network. Unlike recent months, however, this increase did not rely solely on data centers or a handful of giant projects.

“April’s construction starts were robust with only three categories posting month over month losses,” said Eric Gaus, chief economist at Dodge Construction Network. “Large data centers and energy generation supported the growth, but nine of the 15 categories saw double or triple digit growth.”

Although artificial intelligence and power construction still boosted overall activity, sectors including highways, bridges, education and warehouses also notched monthly gains, according to the Dodge report.

Nonresidential building starts, for example, increased 18.6% month over month in April, largely due to a 41.4% surge in commercial construction. Granted, office projects, which include data centers in the Dodge analysis, led commercial builds in April with a 46.1% monthly increase. But warehouse and hotel construction groundbreakings also posted gains from the month prior, up 25% and 12.8%, respectively, in April.

Institutional construction, which comprises both education and healthcare, likewise posted solid growth during the month, up 12.3% month over month in April. Manufacturing construction, on the other hand, fell 29.3% month over month after a 251.4% surge in March, according to Dodge.

Nonbuilding construction, boosted by infrastructure work, improved 7% month over month in April. Highway and bridge projects increased 17% over the month, alongside a 16.3% uptick in environmental public works.

The electric power and utilities segment declined 9.7% month over month in April after several months of massive gains from natural gas and renewable energy groundbreakings. Despite the drop, utility and gas starts remained the nonbuilding market’s strongest long-term growth category, up 62% over the last 12 months and 79.3% year to date through April.

Residential starts slipped 0.7% from March to April, according to the report. Single family starts increased 4.2% in April, but multifamily construction dropped 7.2% over the course of the month.

The largest projects to break ground in April included, according to Dodge:

• The $5 billion Provident/PowerHouse Prairie Ridge data center phase 1 in Midlothian, Texas.
• The $3.8 billion Bison Generation Station Natural Gas power plant in North Dakota.
• The $3.3 billion Cayuga Natural Gas energy replacement in Cayuga, Indiana. 
• The $1.9 billion SK Hynix HBM Advanced Packaging and R&D hub project in West Lafayette, Indiana.
• The $1.3 billion Stargate data center campus project in Saline Township, Michigan.
• The $1 billion Tradepoint Atlantic Container Terminal in Edgemere, Maryland.
• The $850 million Gowanus Wharf 175 3rd Street mixed-use development in Gowanus, New York.
• The $354 million Deerfield Episcopal Retirement Community III expansion project in Asheville, North Carolina.
• Phase 2 of the $303 million Archer Towers mixed-use development garage in Jamaica, New York.